Network failure, poor quality of computer systems, confusion and lack of information from any source left students crying and parents worried in some centres of Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) Main that started on Friday.
Problems were noticed at two centres – Aurora College at Moosaram Bagh and Aurora Engineering College at Boggulakunta, where students had to spend hours in the exam hall as the network failed and they were unable to access the questions. Some students who were lucky to log in faced a shortage of questions due to technical issues, which the college managements could not rectify.
The attitude of the authorities was more pathetic, according to parents, who said they simply shirked responsibility saying they had no control over the network issues. When parents asked what should the students do now, there was no response or even guidance, according to some students who waited anxiously to take the exam.
The problem started in the morning session itself. The exam was scheduled at 9 a.m. but students were not allowed till 10.30 a.m. More than 200 candidates were allotted the centre for the first session but about 130 students were stopped citing server issues despite reporting at the centre before 7.30 a.m.
An entire floor of the exam centre lost connectivity and students were made to wait for more than two hours. Other students who logged in faced problems like questions not displayed properly on the screens. Some of them missed 26 questions out of 90 and when the students complained to the invigilators, they expressed their helplessness. “Now what will happen to our exam” is the question asked by such students.
The delay spilled over the second session starting from 3 p.m. and in these two centres, they had to wait as the first session students were still writing the exam. “It’s all chaos and there is no one to answer,” said some parents. Calls to the National Testing Agency (NTA) that is conducting the test did not yield any results as there was no response on the phone number given on their website.
At some other centres, candidates were turned away as they failed to bring two photographs as needed. Despite appealing to the authorities, they were not allowed.
Easy to moderate
An analysis of the first session by various coaching institutes showed that Math questions were moderate and were mostly from Calculus, Coordinate Geometry, Algebra, 3D Geometry. Physics was easy to moderate level and questions were from Kinematics, Optics, Electrostatics, Magnetism, Current Electricity, Communication Systems, Heat andThermodynamics.
The chemistry paper was the easiest among all and questions covered chapters like Mole Concept, Chemistry in Everyday Life, Chemical Bonding, Co-ordination compounds. More weightage was given to Inorganic Chemistry.
